


Taking the Bullet

by lasairfhiona



Category: West Wing
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-19
Updated: 2012-09-19
Packaged: 2017-11-14 15:15:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/516720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasairfhiona/pseuds/lasairfhiona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Do you think I am so desperate to save my ass I will roll over on Jed Bartlet?  I take a bullet for the President, he don't take one for me."</p><p>companion to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/516701">Made of Leather </a></p><p>I owe Jeanine for holding my hand through these two stories.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taking the Bullet

The light outside Leo's darkened room illuminated the falling snow. Leo sat slumped on the easy chair, the empty glass heavy in his hand. Unlike some other alcoholics, he didn't keep an empty bottle or AA chips as a reminder of where he'd been and how far he'd come. He kept a glass – perfectly balanced, leaded crystal – the finest Waterford made. He'd bought it three years ago after his relapse. He drank his morning tomato juice from it to remind him what he almost lost as a result of one sip of sixty-year-old scotch in a glass similar to it.

Two weeks ago, Congressman Gibson changed the rules. Somewhere along the line Gibson decided to take down as many from the Bartlet administration as possible. As if it wasn't enough to take down the President. The Congressman decided to discredit the man closest to the President as well. The man he had dirt on. Him.

During a hastily called recess, he'd finally told Jordan everything. He told her about the glass, the ice and the sip of sixty-year-old scotch that went down smooth as silk and how it destroyed five years and five months of sobriety. He'd hoped he wouldn't have to tell her. He'd hoped Gibson would be professional and keep his questions to the President and what Jed Bartlet revealed or didn't reveal. He was wrong. He should have known.

Jordan couldn't understand how he could have done it. She'd asked, 'How could you throw away everything you've worked for?' She, however, had accepted his explanation, which was more than he ever could have said for Jenny. He'd never told his wife what had happened in St Louis. It was just one more way he'd let her down over the years and no matter how much he'd loved her he could never make up all the ways he'd slighted her during their marriage due to the booze and the pills, then the job he'd deemed more important than his marriage.

Last night Cliff Calley offered him a way out. He wouldn't have to testify. He wouldn't have to admit in front of Congress and the country he'd had a relapse. In fact, the hearings would end and none of the others would have to go through the endless grilling he'd gone through. All he had to do was convince Jed Bartlet to accept censure. He'd told Cliff, "Do you think I am so desperate to save my ass I will roll over on Jed Bartlet? I take a bullet for the President, he don't take one for me." And on that note he'd gathered his coat and left the room leaving Jordan behind to soothe the feathers he'd ruffled. He hadn't been about to allow Jed to accept that offer just to save his skin. He'd take what was coming to him. After all he owed Jed.

Jordan had confronted him today. Twice. Talking about the censure and the fact he should convince the President to take it. He couldn't. He wouldn't. She hadn't been there this morning when he'd talked to the President and Jed had guessed they offered censure. She hadn't seen the look on Jed's face. He had. His friend's face was an open book to him and he could see what the idea of accepting censure would do to him. But she'd still kept at him, talking about House Resolutions and how unimportant they really were and how little they were remembered. Then she'd pulled what she thought was an ace out of her sleeve. She'd asked him how long he thought he could keep his job when he told the story he had to tell. It wasn't the ace she thought it would be, however. He'd known two weeks ago the answer to that question. He knew *exactly* what would happen to him. He knew the outcry for his resignation would be louder and with more fervor than it had been when Lillianfield had tried to bring him down. He'd known he wouldn't be able to keep his job. Jed had known it. As had Josh, which is why the young man had tried so hard to get Gibson out of the room, determined not to let him go down without a fight.

Time had been running short and Cliff had called in Josh as backup. He'd taken his turn, saying almost the same thing Jordan had spent the day telling him only in more succinct manner, using the primaries and their re-election to sway his opinion. The thing was if it were anyone other than Jed Bartlet he'd be agreeing with them. But it wasn't just anyone. It was his friend. The man he owed his life to. The man who pulled him out of a gutter and put him on the road to recovery.

"Damn it. Damn it to hell," he muttered. He knew the minute he was called into the Oval Office tonight, Jed had made a decision. A decision he hadn't even been given to make. As he'd listened to the list of people the President had been talking to, each name he heard filled him with dread. Jed was going to do it. He was going to accept the censure. He'd tried to talk his old friend out of it. He brought up Abbey, Jed Bartlet's one weak spot, no matter how much they fought, and how his censure didn't get her out of facing the AMA. He brought up the Democrats in tight races over the country, hoping Jed's loyalty to the party would win out. But the President held firm on his decision and once Jed made up his mind there was little changing it.

Frustrated and angry, Leo threw the glass he held against the wall. The glass broke on impact and fell silently to the carpeted floor. That glass – the thing that was supposed to remind him of the mistake that almost cost him everything now only reminded him of his failure. He didn't need it now. He had H-Con-172 to remind him of how he'd failed to protect Jed Bartlet.

Jed had told him it was more than protecting him. That it was about the fact that they were wrong and he was ready to accept his responsibility for his action. For keeping the public in the dark. But no matter how much Jed argued, talking about telling the truth and obfuscations, Leo would forever see it as Jed taking the bullet for him. Not the other way around. The way it was supposed to be.

He'd have to tell the 'kids' tomorrow and he dreaded that moment. But he also knew in some respects, they would be relieved it was over, but Leo knew it would never be over for him. Jed had taken his bullet.


End file.
